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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Rescue Beauty Lounge A Poem Collection Swatches & Review

It's that time again folks, it's RESCUE BEAUTY LOUNGE time! The newest collection is called A Poem and it's based on the poem "Ghost House" by Robert Frost. Please enjoy the press release from creator Ji Baek, swatches and my review below the jump: (FYI, this is a long post)

I'm wobbling on the icy sidewalks of Manhattan against the sharp, brutal wind, which is mockingly slicing my face into pieces. I feel like I'm five years old again trapped in my one-piece zip-up snowsuit unable to raise my arms, intently concentrating with knitted brows trying not to walk sideways and fall on my derriere. There are so many layers underneath my puffy coat that I feel immobile and stuck. I grip the railing as I descend down to the subway, my boots crunching the grayed crystal snow-salt beneath me as I slide down the stairs. At the subway platform we're all children again waiting for the school bus on a wintry morning, puffing out our breaths through our cocooned scarves with our eyes peering through a tiny space like ninjas.

A text notification vibrates, my girlfriend (an ex-New Yorker) now living on the West Coast: "Augh! Another stupid sunny day here! I miss New York, the cold, my sweaters and coats *cat face with tears* emoji."

I immediately reply with: "Three *angry red devil faces* emoji" while I mentally utter explosive curses at her--I picture her wearing flip-flops and shorts. Immaturely, at that moment, I hate her and put like a child.

At the studio, I'm stirring the last shimmery touches on my mixing table, the almost completed color mixes for the The Fan Collection 2.0 consume me. They are stunningly beautiful and simply lovely, yet, for my next round of mixing, I cannot fathom working with anything this pretty so soon. Instead, I start craving sensible soft cotton undies and my oldest sweats from college. That's the outfit I'd wear as I picture myself munching on Doritos and washing it down with beer while watching horrific "Lifetime" movies--I crave dichotomy. That's when I remember this quote from "The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker: "Even beauty, in abundance, turns creepy." I then call my girlfriend, I understand our finicky hearts.

My thirst to seek some kind of alluring forlornness leads me to words. Wordsmithing entrances me, I can marinate myself for days with its craft. Words are a magical and ancient medium. Great writers use words to depict the cinematic or to hint at nuances of imagination. Would I? Can I humbly dare to translate that into colors?

As soon as I read "Ghost House" by Robert Frost (published on public domain), the colors revealed themselves. It was as if I was physically walking along the patch of earth from the poem. There are many layers in those verses that illuminate one's soul; I've attempted to translate this into layers of colors. This entire collection was curated by a harmony of hues that go seamlessly hand in hand, including the glitter that can be layered with the opaque colors to give depth and texture depending on one's mood.

It's rare for me to make four opaque colors in one collection, but these earthy palettes ravished me, when I read the poem, these colors seduced me. The opaques themselves are all demurely quiet, neutral and wearable, yet sophisticatedly pensive for all occasions and seasons (my own version of the perfect little black dress). I know, I know, scandalously, there is only one color with that shimmery sensation and I've crushed on glitter again. The last time you've witnessed this was circa 2009.

Unfolding the ocean full of desires has completed this puzzle and it makes my hunger complete. I hope you'll enjoy this journey as much as I did.

So without further ago, here are the swatches! Above the photo will be Ji's description and below it will be my take on the polish.

A Lonely House: The sleepy night sky swallows up the last dim sunlight. Like a black and white photograph from long ago, naked tree branches are covered in the snow that is falling on the ground and the ubiquitous snow wins with a smirk. A brown, weathered, broken wooden house remains, without any apparent light or life. Just there, content, scattered, and waiting. Out of this friendless and disparaged landscape dwells the perfect opaque brown. Like handsomely worn English saddle leather, a rich and lush one-coater.

I saw A Lonely House and just knew I was going to love it. It's a red toned tree trunk brown with an amazingly opaque creme formula. I always used two coats, more out of habit than anything, but this is truly opaque in one.

Forgotten Road: The snow has melted. A howling wind stamps, turns, and tangos with the broken brown house too many times. In the morning after they part, a charcoal road, faded over time, leads to the house yearning for companionship. In the slick asphalt road after the rain, I found a charcoal opaque gray. It is the color of a deep gray river rock that fits perfectly in your hand, the darkest shade of gray in the spectrum. A darker, moodier sister to Stormy.

I took Forgotten Road as a blue when I first saw it but with further inspection, it could also be called gray! A deep, dark, winter day gray. Another impeccable formula, one coater but I used two.

Footpath: After the incessant rain and flood, the yellowed-clay earth slowly recovers and hardens. Unhurriedly, the path heals, baked by the sun. The earth, for a short while, forgets and forgives its muddied past. The willow branches persistently swings, whispers, and sheds its confetti of mustard-colored pollen, which blend to celebrate a marriage between two earthy-yellow opaque hues. This earthened-yellow is truly mellow, wearable, and surpassingly neutral. If you're on the fence about wearing a bright yellow, this is a perfect shade to ease into.

At first glance I expected this to be an "ugly pretty" color, but upon application and seeing it on my nails I have to say I'm truly in love with this! Mustard the food product makes me want to die, but mustardy colors give me life! I sound like a broken record, but seriously, fantastic formula. Two coats here.

The Mosses Mar: The small creek sings and chatters, conversing with the busy birds pecking away at nature's supper. In between the brown house the wood has shed, there are sage-colored mosses bursting up for their new eager, erratic life. This is the color of the mosses in between stones or scattered deadwoods, parched and lightened by the sun, almost identical to the underside of Aspen leaves when they tremble in the wind. (This is a less yellow version of Diddy Mow 2.0)

I immediately thought of Orbis Non Sufficit when I saw this dusty sage green creme, however upon comparison The Mosses Mar is lighter and a tad dustier. I don't have Diddy Mow so I can't compare those (but I bet Pammy will be doing that!). I am in love with this, it's just so beautiful. Perfect formula once again, two coats.

Wild Raspberries Grow: One spring morning, a sparkling hint of brilliance appeared in the periphery where wild raspberry patches thrived. The ruby fruit twinkled. Like Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz, the raspberries find their ruby slippers--turning the grayed world of black and white into a beautiful spring day. In the light of the sun of a new day, the micro leafy green glitters and sparkling fuchsia berries float. Combine this with any of the opaque colors in this collection or use three coats to see a kaboom of glitter!

When I saw this, my jaw literally dropped. A GLITTER?! Wowza, I was not expecting that. And if I was, I wouldn't know to expect this! It's mix of grass green microglitter and medium fuchsia hexes. I would say it's more of a layering type of glitter but you could wear it by itself if you do more coats. This reminds me so much of Easter haha. I used two coats and top coat over The Mosses Mar.

Small, Dim, Summer Stars: Lot in the woods on a moonless, un-illuminated night, they stumble through the darkness. Looking up at the sky amid the fragrant forest, the weeping willow tree branches recite a monologue in the distance. A whippoorwill sopranos--its cadenza joins to compete. Then they appeared, countless tiny stars embedded in the dark sky, it was always there to be found in every gentle, trusting heart. This sweltering silvery black base hammered with multifaceted and spectacular green, blue, pink, shimmery, glittery twinkling stars will bring you back to that summer night long ago, full of wonder and beauty.

This polish is STUNNING! It's really different and just lovely. This has a dark charcoal black base imbedded with a zillion pounds of milky glitter shard flakes in different colors. Seriously awesome. I used two coats here.

As Sweet Companions: In the end, it was the hardship and the beauty that all flourished together. The sonatas will always have the contrasting movement that settles what the perfect ending was meant to be. The silver-lavender and matte black glitter were meant to be playmates. This is not your typical screaming glitter, it's more discreet, reserved, with muted tones. You can create a perfect polka-dot nail art overlay with any of the opaque colors from this collection as base. Or better yet, for those who want it real--layer it on for jeweled digits!

Another one that blew my mind when I saw it, seriously I could not believe what I was seeing in an RBL bottle! This is a clear base with medium lavender and black hex glitters, probably most likely to be used in layering. I used two coats over Forgotten Road.

So there you have it, A Poem collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge! The pre-sale starts this Friday 2/7 at noon EST and goes for 48 hrs. You can only get the link to the pre-sale emailed to you if you sign up for the RBL email list on their website. They will be available for purchase like normal at a later date if you cannot participate in the pre-sale. Each bottle is $20.

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes are created with resin and high molecular polymers to improve flexibility, durability, and high shine. They contain no harmful Toluene, Formaldehyde, DBP, and Formaldehyde Resin. They do not test on animals.